Silbury Hill (Wiltshire)
The largest man-made mound in Europe, huge and mysterious Silbury Hill is comparable to the Egyptian pyramids.
Introduction
Silbury Hill is the largest man-made earthen mound in Europe, and dates from the Neolithic period. Its purpose however, is still highly debated.
Composed principally of chalk excavated from the surrounding area, the mound stands 40-metres (130-ft.) high and covers about 5 acres (2.2 hectares). It is a display of immense technical skill and prolonged control over labour and resources. Archaeologists calculate that Silbury Hill was built about 4750 years ago and that it took 18 million man-hours, or 500 men working 15 years to deposit and shape 248,000 cubic metres (8.75 million feet³) of earth and fill on top of a natural hill.
Viewing area has access at all reasonable times.
Check for access conditions around the summer solstice (20-22 June).
History to the present day
The base of the hill is circular and 167 m (550 ft) in diameter. The summit is flat-topped and 30 m (100 ft) in diameter. A smaller mound was first constructed, and in a later phase much enlarged. The initial structures at the base of the hill were perfectly circular and surveying reveals that the centre of the flat top and the centre of the cone that describes the hill, lie within a metre of one another.
The first phase, carbon-dated to 2750 ±95 BC, consisted of a gravel core with a revetting kerb of stakes and sarsen boulders. Alternate layers of chalk rubble and earth were placed on top of this, the second phase involved heaping further chalk on top of the core, using material excavated from an encircling ditch. At some stage during this process the ditch was backfilled and work was concentrated on increasing the size of the mound to its present height using material from elsewhere.
A colourful legend suggests that the devil was about to empty a huge sack of earth on Marlborough town, when the power of prayer from nearby Avebury priests forced him to drop it where the mound was thus formed.
A more reasoned explanation is that as a part of the larger prehistoric complex of monuments, Silbury Hill was employed as a solar observatory. A lay line running from Stonehenge passes through the eastern slope of Silbury, crossing a meridian line as it does. It is also worth mentioning in this context that a number of ancient prehistoric tracks were aligned directly through the hill.
A further explanation for its purpose is associated with the important pagan festival of Lammas, celebrated in August, the time of year when Silbury Hill was thought to be founded. This is in turn related to the harvest festivals, fertility rites and the Mother Goddess beliefs.
